West Virginia Receation Use Statue Amendment Process

[OldCuby]

No lobbying action called at this time, but Friday, a West Virginia House Bill, HB4216 that would add aviation activities on private land, was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. The status can be seen here:

http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_S...nput=4216&year=2014&sessiontype=RS&btype=bill

The text of the bill here:

http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_S...oc=hb4216 intr.htm&yr=2014&sesstype=RS&i=4216

Local pilot and Delegate, Mike Folk is the lead sponsor and he was able to get 10 co-sponsors. He used the info from the RAF links I gave him. Also I gave him links to the West Virginia OBP fall 2012 tour videos! Hope he showed them to some of his fellow delegates so they could get the flavor of aircraft use of and camping on WV "backcountry" private airstrips. I think he will have to get someone in the WV Senate to introduce one on their side as well. He knows a pilot senator.

Notice that Farms were added along with Private airstrips! Well lets hope for the best.

 

[btracy]

Time to start planning for the next WV adventure

 

[OldCuby]

The HB 4216 Bill is still tied up in the WV House Judiciary Committee. It's getting late in this legislative session and this week is critical to get this bill acted upon in this committee. Therefore, I'm asking all interested to contact committee Chair, Delegate Tim Manchin, tmanchin@manchininjurylaw.com or call (304) 340-3252 to support this bill. I understand that if it is not acted upon in committee this week then it will likely die this session. There is an identical bill introduced in the WV Senate, SB 529 just waiting for the Judiciary Committee to act.

Please say you support the "adding aircraft operations on private airstrips and farms to the definition of 'recreational purpose'" in the WV RUS which limits liability of the landowners. Of course also add info about yourself and the type of flying greater access to "backcountry" and private airstrips means to you. And mention economic benefits to WV.

I'm trying to contact as many WV private airstrip owners as I know to encourage them to contact the Judiciary Committee Chair Tim Manchin and any committee members they know.

You can check the committee agenda daily here: http://www.legis.state.wv.us/commit...endas.cfm?Chart=jud&input=Monday, February 17

You may have seen this AOPA News item: http://www.aopa.org/News-and-Video/..._sect=adv&cmp=EPLT:RGNL&WT.mc_id=140214epilot

Thanks all,
Jim

 

[Rick Papp]

Jim. I just spoke to Tim Manchins aid and she took down all the talking points. I mentioned owning a farm in WVa and spoke about the old airstrip in Hundred that used to have a resturant that could be rebuilt if the liability were reduced. Hope it gets acted on this session. Rick

 

[OldCuby]

Thanks Rick, I sent him an email that included the videos of our fall 2012 trip! Hope someone in his office views them. I'm going to contact his cousin, our WV Senator Joe Manchin, who is a pilot. Maybe he can have some influence. I'm going to sent stuff to every one of the members on that committee. One of them I've already communicated with as he happens to be my Delegate. He's a neighbor of a local strip closest to me.
Let's fix up your strip!
Jim

 

[OldCuby]

The last scuttlebutt I heard is that this Bill has little chance of a hearing in the Judiciary Committee. Don't know why, I'm about as far away from the capitol Charleston, WV and still be in WV. But we're not giving up. I'm trying to contact every one on that Committee. With hat tip to Bill Tracy and the Ohio Bush Plane folks, here is what I sent to Chair Tim Manchin yesterday:

HB 4216 Limiting Liability for Landowners of Private Airstrips

Delegate Tim Manchin, Chair Judiciary Committee

Dear Mr. Manchin,

I am a recreational pilot residing in Bakerton, WV near Harpers Ferry. I support the subject bill. I’ve been flying for recreation for over 40 years and within the last 14 years or so I’ve had the pleasure of owning a aircraft that along with other likeminded aviators, fly to remote, some say, “backcountry,” airstrips to enjoy the outdoors, and companionship of other campers. While this is common out west, we’ve found out that West Virginia has a beauty all its own especially in the fall. We look for and appreciate finding airstrips we can access. But in WV, most of these strips are private and we found that landowners are understandably cautious about giving us, the public, access to their private airstrips. This is why I and many other pilots both in WV and elsewhere, support this bill. Twenty other states have aviation activities in their Recreational Use Statues.

The current WV Recreational Use Statue includes many activities but not aviation activities. This bill is bi-partisan and will not cost WV a penny. Also, there is no change in liability for licensed pilots or their aircraft. It’s not an aviation issue, but a landowner issue. I believe this bill will aid in bringing increased economic activity into WV. To illustrate that, I and up to 18 other aircraft made a tour of West Virginia over a week period in the fall of 2012. We had planes from the south, New England and from the mid-west. We first met up just across the border in Ohio and ended in the eastern panhandle the following weekend. We camped at about 4 private airstrips but landed and spent time at a number of others including some that are public use. Here are two links to videos of photo snapshots of that trip. I hope you are able to view them to see what a beautiful state this is, some from the air. We are planning for another soon I hope.

http://vimeo.com/51829002
http://vimeo.com/51921941

And a comment from an Ohio pilot Bill Tracy after the trip:
Quote:
I just cant say enough good things about the people that we met in West Virginia. Parkersburg is a towered airport. With some help from a couple of local pilots they now have a grass landing area hoping to attract more small tail dragger traffic into the restaurant. They cleared us in as a flight of 12 for the grass and were on the ramp to welcome us in. Our overnight stop stop was Fayetteville a private airport/airpark. Most of the owners came out to meet us and offer us rides, opened up the club house for us to hang out in brought firewood for the wood burner and tossed us the keys to the Willeys Jeep to use as courtesy car. The next morning 15 of us headed to Beckley for breakfast along with Chris one of the Fayetteville owners. The Airport manager took notice of 15 planes on the ramp buying fuel and picked up our breakfast tab and invited everyone to come back. We stopped in at several other strips and we got the same great hospitality at every one of them. Its nice to know that there is still a few places that love to see airplanes come in and help the economy.
Unquote:

Thank you for your consideration,

Jim Newton
PO Box 200
Bakerton, WV 25410

 

[sj]

Jim,

Was the RAF or the State Liaison contacted about this? They have a great step by step program for helping getting these things through - it's what we do!

sj

 

[OldCuby]

Yes Steve, I'm working with the RAF Dave Myrick currently. We don't have a state liaison. We need someone in the state capitol. I notified the RAF back in January. Unfortunately I was in Puerto Rico and when returning Sunday, discovered that if the bill is not acted upon this Friday, its dead this session. So not much time. The legislature has soo many bills and the recent water crisis in Charleston, WV delayed action this session. I guess this bill is way down on their priorities. I made liberal use of RAF material that was passed on to my local pilot delegate who sponsored the bill.
I've been emailing and on the phone much of the day.
Even contacted pilot US Sen. Joe Manchin's office for support! Maybe he can tell his cousin, Judiciary Chair Tim Manchin to get our bill on the agenda, ha!

 

[sj]

Jim,

That's good. Dave is a great guy and he will get other RAF folks involved as need be. Just wanted to make sure you had all the support you needed for this.

Thanks for taking this on!

sj

 

[OLDCROWE]

Just tell them "hey even Oklahoma passed it" (and one of our sponsors was a trial lawyer) and we wouldn't pass daylight savings time if the legislature had to vote on it!